UPDATED AFTER SPEAKING DIRECTLY WITH A WITNESS (The girlfriend who was with him that night). Newspaper clippings are at bottom of the page. More updates coming.
"What happened to my Uncle Dennis on December 11th, 1983, should never have happened. His death was senseless, cold-blooded and committed by total strangers. The three young men were also not held fully accountable which is upsetting and infuriating. They only served 2-8 years and I think it was more like 2-5 years. They have been enjoying life for 33 MORE years than what my Uncle was able to enjoy his. These men took his future from him at the young age of 21 years. He left his home to go Christmas shopping and returned five days later in a body bag...
My Uncle left his home on a Sunday morning December 11th with his girlfriend to go to Fort Wayne, IN to visit his older brother and spend some time with his 2.5 year old niece. He and his girlfriend also went to see a movie at the Southtown Cinema and then they went to do some Christmas shopping. He had an appointment the next morning to have his broken right hand set in a cast (he had it wrapped to protect his hand from further injury). He also had a good job that he had started that year and things were going well for him.
However, after a verbal altercation with three young men in a mall parking lot they targeted him as, ‘the man they would like to kill, to see what it felt like to kill a white man'. This confession was from their own lips, as to why they beat a total stranger to death without mercy.
I AM IN PROGRESS ON THE EXACT DETAILS: I ORDERED THE TRIAL TRANSCRIPT. In the meantime I will share what the girlfriend recalled about that night during our recent phone conversation. My Uncle and his girlfriend were listening to the new John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Uh-huh' cassette in his car. The girlfriend was dancing in her seat and singing along. The three men were walking between all of the vehicles in the parking lot and pointed at their car and starting making comments loudly. Pointing and saying stuff to my Uncle and the girlfriend about their car shaking and other stuff. My Uncle was upset that they were making comments about his girlfriend and he told them basically to mind their own business and get lost (he rolled his window down).
The three young men did not like being verbally put in their place and decided at that point they were going to kill my Uncle. No, they did not say it out loud but their actions clearly show their intent was to kill him. They went to their car and the oldest of the three got a tire iron (unknown to my Uncle or the girlfriend). Apparently, when they were headed back to my Uncles vehicle, the three men were literally running over the top of cars, while hooting and hollering as they were heading their way and quickly. My Uncle opened his door, stood up and got out to get out his mace but with his broken hand he was unable to get the mace out in time. All three men attacked him at once with the oldest of the three men hitting him at least six times with the tire iron (the girlfriend said she thought the man would never stop striking my Uncle with the tire iron). Even after my Uncle was on the ground and not moving the man kept hitting him full force with the metal pipe. The door to my Uncles car also ended up shut and the girlfriend can’t remember how that happened… They were hitting, kicking, stomping, jumping etc... on my Uncle for what seemed like forever as he was on the ground. I understand they also held him at some point during this attack as well. The tire iron did horrific damage to my Uncles skull, face and throat.
The girlfriend was able to get out of the car and run to the mall entrance for help while they were still beating my Uncle. She was briefly chased by one of the men according to an eye witness who watched all of this from start to finish (this is why I am getting the transcript). Anyway, she needed a dime and was asking people to borrow one and then she looked outside and saw the men had run off and my Uncle was up and stumbling around dazed. She ran back out of the mall (it was dark outside) and she said that he was was able to quietly say, "I need help, payphone'... So, he got into the car and pulled out of the mall parking lot, even stopped at a light and then pulled into a bank area at a teller box and thought it was a payphone (sadly). He was dying during all of this and his damaged brain thought the teller box was a payphone. I doubt he could see very well either as he had blood covering his entire body and head (plus he was starting to swell). At that point he fell forward and over towards the passenger side--he had went unconscious. He was covered in blood and not only suffering from severe head trauma but his throat was busted with a tire iron and broken so he was choking to death on his own blood. (It is so hard for me to imagine him suffering like this).
She gently laid his head back, put the car in park, laid the driver seat back, moved his seat all the way back, sat on his lap (she is only 5' 1") and drove back to the mall. She parked right in front of the doors people exit. A nurse (not in uniform) was walking out of the mall with her 9 year old daughter and saw the girlfriend pull up and knew right away someone was hurt. The girlfriend was covered from head to toe in blood. The nurse took one look at my Uncle and asked if they had anything sharp and did they have a straw. She took a metal nail file and a drinking straw they had in the car and told the girlfriend to go call for help in the mall.
This time when the girlfriend entered the mall, people saw her covered in blood and handed her the dime to call. A guy working in the mall said he had called too. At this point a lot of police, ambulance started showing up. The nurse in the meantime had poked a hole in my Uncles throat with a nail file and put the straw in his throat so he could breathe (he never did wake up again after falling over in the bank parking lot). I was told that all the emergency responders worked very hard to save my Uncles life. The girlfriend was also treated for shock. I wish I could thank them and the nurse. My Uncle spent two days on life support... Lutheran hospital was also wonderful and tried to save my Uncle. The tire iron did way too much damage and he eventually had little to no brain activity so the heartbreaking decision was made to remove the life support. Injuries noted in the autopsy:
He had two skull fractures (from two powerful cracks in the head from a tire iron by one man).
Fractured face (tire iron and caused by one of the many hits, kicks, stomps and jumps on his head by all three men.)
Broken ribs (caused by one of the many hits, kicks, stomps and jumps on his head by all three men.)
Broken larynx (tire iron and caused by one of the many hits, kicks, stomps and jumps on his head by all three men.)
Contusions (tire iron and caused by one of the many hits, kicks, stomps and jumps on his head by all three men.)
This happened at the Southtown Mall in Fort Wayne, IN on December 11th, 1983 in the parking lot (witnesses did nothing to help which breaks my heart--said they were scared). My Uncle Dennis left home in his 1975 Ford Pinto December 11th and returned home five days later broken, battered and abused in a body bag.
These three young men went back to school the next day and bragged (Snider High School). Their lack of remorse and joy at what they had done to him meant they could not keep their mouth shut. Their bragging is what got them caught because they were strangers to the girlfriend (and to my Uncle). At this point the beating made the news and police were looking for them as well as Crime Stoppers. The girlfriend had her name kept out of the papers (to protect her identity). My Uncle was not the kind of person who would have realized how evil these men were, he was very kind to people and respectful. He did not have any intention of having a physical confrontation with these men, he simply wanted them to leave and be respectful.
They are all alive and well today living in Indiana and in Michigan. I know this because I have looked them up over the years. I also got their background checks done and they are still breaking the law. They were ages 17 (I do not know anything about him), 18 and 19 when they ruthlessly killed my Uncle Dennis. Their parents and family (like many parents of criminals) pled for leniency/a second chance for their 'babies' BUT no concern, compassion or care at what THEIR adult child did to someone else's child--killed them.
What they did to my Uncle literally shattered my family and his death is something we grieve deeply to this day. It nearly destroyed my Mom who had finished raising my Uncle after their mother died. My Uncle lost his own Mom when he was only 8 years old. He was kind and sweet and I cannot forgive these men for what they have done. He was just a young guy trying to enjoy his Sunday off work but he never came home because of them."
It's almost 2017 and people are still hell-bent on allowing hate to fill their hearts against other lifestyles, genders, religions, races and over a US history that none of us can change. We are empowered to be better than our history. We can change how we treat people who are not like us and embrace diversity. Love conquers hate.
Uncle Dennis loved music and this was the last album he bought and listened to.